Coventry City

City have been unable to get past the first round of the League Cup in each of the last three seasons, going out to lower league opposition on each occasion.

However, in the 2007/08, the club reached the fourth round of the cup, beating Manchester United 2-0 at Old Trafford in the third round.

Thorn hopes his side can enjoy the League Cup this season and thinks it will help the side get into winning ways ahead of the trip to Yeovil Town.

The City boss said: “We are ready. We have been looking forward to it for a while now so it will be good to get underway. 

“Things have gone well for us in pre-season with the way everything has come together. We have worked extremely hard and it seems everything is coming together at just the right time.

“We are aiming to do our best in every competition this year. I would be nice to have a cup run and get some big teams to the Ricoh.

“It’s a tough game against Dagenham and we must come through it. But, if we can come through it, a cup run would be great for the fans. A win in the cup can set us up well for Saturday as well so it is important.”

Several first team players are set to miss out in the first game of the season including Nathan Cameron, Cyrus Christie and Conor Thomas through injury and Adam Barton who has been called up to the Republic of Ireland Under 21's Euro 2013 qualifier at home to Turkey.

Midfielder John Fleck will also be unavailable for the Daggers clash but Thorn hopes to have the Scottish playmaker back for the Yeovil game.

He added: “We have got a few injuries at the moment but they will be back soon and we have got good cover in the squad at the moment.

“John (Fleck) won’t be available for the game with a slight knock from the Accrington game which is out of our hands at the moment.

“We are waiting but he should be alright for the trip to Yeovil on Saturday.”